Montreal Journal; They Speak French, but Their Language Is Money

Jacques Menard has a tan, a four-wheel-drive Jeep, a good golf stroke, volunteer duties at Oxfam, gold cuff links, a pool, and a watercolor of the Montreal stock exchange hanging on his office wall. But like any self-respecting executive in New York or Chicago, he bridles at the word yuppie.

''None of us see ourselves as yuppies,'' said Mr. Menard, who became a company director at age 29 and is now, at 44, a vice chairman and managing director of the Canadian brokerage firm Burns Fry Ltd.

He added, delicately: ''We went rather quickly into leadership positions. We didn't have time to engross ourselves in the consumer culture.''

The ''we'' that Mr. Menard speaks of is a new generation of French Canadian business leaders. Many of them were catapulted at young ages into high-level jobs left open by English-speaking Canadian executives who fled Quebec when the separatist government of Rene Levesque took power in 1967.

Their successful rise in professions that were once the exclusive preserve of English-speaking Canadians has captivated Quebec. So much so that the phrase ''newly confident Quebec business class'' is repeated so often as an epithet that it has taken on a sing-song lilt. But the entrepreneurs are of particular interest in Quebec these days as heated talk of independence sweeps the province for the first time in a decade.

It is taken very seriously partly because several prominent Montreal business leaders, men like Michel Gaucher, chairman of the Steinberg supermarket chain, or Claude Beland, president of Mouvement Desjardins, Quebec's largest credit union association, have stated that Quebec is strong enough economically to survive on its own.

''It's the most established, gray-hair-at-the-temple types that are saying we are not afraid,'' Andre Louzon, 31, said admiringly. Mr. Louzon, who wears Italian silk ties and owns his own corporate communications firm, noted, ''If it were just young punks, people would say, 'Who cares what you think.' ''

Mr. Louzon, incidently, did not appear offended when asked whether he was, by any chance, a yuppie. ''Exactly,'' he said, beaming. Then he set the record straight: ''Actually, I'm a dink: dual income, no kids.'' He is also an enthusiastic Quebec nationalist.

Mr. Menard, who is also president of the Montreal Chamber of Commerce, was reluctant to give his personal views on the emotional issue of independence. Though he spoke strongly of French Canadians' rights, he spoke more cautiously about economic separation.

''Quebec would be better served staying part of a larger economic entity.'' he said. ''I don't feel like a raving, foaming-at-the-mouth Marxist-Leninist if I stick up for Quebec business.''

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Mr. Menard, who studied business in both Quebec and English-speaking Ontario and who is perfectly bilingual, as are his business cards, is representative of the fast-paced social changes that have transformed Montreal society.

In 1960, a newly elected Liberal Party swept out the entrenched, corrupt government to pave the way for a nationalistic French Canadian resurgence. French Canadians call it ''the quiet revolution,'' but it was also a cultural revolution that among other things saw Quebec's birth rate fall from among the highest in the world to among the lowest.

In a survey conducted in 1967, French Canadian parents were asked what profession they would prefer for their sons. Overwhelmingly, the priesthood was the first choice. When the question is asked today, business is invariably at the top of the list.

There are now more business-school students and more new businesses created per capita in Quebec each year than in English-speaking Canada or the United States.

Jean-Marie Toulouse, a professor of Entrepreneurship and Business Policy at Hautes Etudes Commerciales, explains that Quebec's new fascination with business is inspired by patriotism as much as self-interest.

''Until recently, the collective challenge for Quebecers was to preserve French language and religion, which is why most Quebec students went on to teaching or the priesthood,'' Mr. Toulouse said. ''Now the collective challenge is the Quebec economy.''

'American Style,' Gallic Flair

Though newspapers often attach the words ''American style'' to their titles, most Quebec business people reject the notion, taking pride in their Gallic flair.

Snapping his fingers, Daniel Lamothe, 30, a business-school student in Montreal, said: ''We're more emotional, more expressive. We are Latins.'' Yet in his gray business suit, briefcase loaded down with a calculator as big as a toaster-oven, Mr. Lamothe looked anything but emotional.

Wait until you see Toronto, he said. ''I went to a party there once, and it was like something my mother would go to - tea cakes.''

Correction: May 23, 1990

Wednesday, Late Edition - Final

An article yesterday about French Canadian business leaders in Montreal misstated the year that the separatist government of Rene Levesque took power in Quebec. It was 1976. In some copies, a picture caption with the article misstated the age of Jacques Menard, a vice chairman and managing director of a brokerage firm. He is 44 years old.

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A version of this article appears in print on May 22, 1990, on Page A00004 of the National edition with the headline: Montreal Journal; They Speak French, but Their Language Is Money. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe